Modular, Self Contained, Engineered Irrigation Landscape and Flower Bed Panel

ABSTRACT

An ornamental planting landscape irrigation distribution and reservoir product and method ecosystem employing a substantially continuous panel on the soil surface on which ornamental landscape plantings are placed or produced, the panel having a primary, lateral water distribution structure which distributes water from a water charging inlet through the lateral area to the panel periphery, where it is restrained, the primary water distribution structure being such that when filled with water or completely submerged in water, air is trapped by the gaps and spaces of the material for ornamental landscape plant usage.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation application claiming priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/809,767 filed Jun. 1, 2007, which is adivisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/600,625 filed Jun. 20,2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,407,340 B2, which claims the benefit of priorProvisional Application No. 60/390,097, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,682,103filed Jun. 20, 2002, all entitled “Modular, Self Contained, EngineeredIrrigation Landscape and Flower Bed Panel.” All of these applicationsand patents are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to permanently installed irrigation systems andmore specifically irrigation systems for the irrigation and planting oflandscape and flower beds that conserve water which decreases laborrequirements for the installation of the flower bed.

The goal of any installed landscape and flower bed irrigation system isto irrigate the target landscape plants as efficiently as is possiblewith minimum labor and parts, and therefore, the lowest installed costpossible. If these requirements are met, the water required to irrigatethe landscape and flower bed plants is conserved and the cost ofinstalling the landscape/flower bed irrigation system is minimized.Current state of the irrigation systems for landscape/flower beds can bebroken into three broad categories; sprinklers, drip and floodirrigation.

One of the earliest forms of irrigation is the flood irrigation concept.This type of irrigation requires that the flower bed area to beirrigated be manipulated and contoured such that the water will flowinto all of the required areas to be irrigated without leaving theintended area before the water has had sufficient time to soak into thesurface soil. This requires labor intensive berming of the perimeter ofthe landscape/flower bed area and a source of water emission containedwithin the bermed perimeter. The benefits of this type oflandscape/flower bed irrigation are low initial cost of the irrigationsystem with regard to materials and ease of installation. The drawbacksof this form of flood irrigation for a landscape/flower bed isinefficiency due to evaporation as the water sits on the surface of thebed and excessive loss of water due to deep percolation past the rootzone of the plantings in the landscape/flower bed. Another drawback ofthe conventional landscape/flower bed with a flood irrigation system isthe high level of labor required in the excavating and planting of thebed. The bed must have a berm completely around the perimeter and thelandscape plants/flowers must be located at the proper depth. Also, fora healthy flower bed it is often necessary to dig down 12 to 18 inchesand amend the soil to provide suitable growing conditions for theplantings. For landscape and flower plants, the soil must be of atexture to allow for water and air to be available to the plant at alltimes. Still another drawback of flood irrigation for flower/landscapebeds is that by definition the entire area of the bed is flooded,providing moisture for the weeds/weed seeds which exist in theflower/landscape bed base soil, promoting the growth of the weeds. Thisunintended weed growth increases the labor requirement for maintaining awell-kept flower landscape bed. The unintended weed growth can alsoresult in increased chemical herbicide weed killer usage, which canresult in increased chemical run-off and environmental damage.Altogether, flood irrigation has been low on efficiency and high inlabor requirements for landscape/flower beds installation of the bed andirrigation system.

The second form of irrigation to be discussed, sprinkler irrigation, isby far the most commonly used form of irrigation for landscape/flowerbeds. This form of irrigation utilized in flower/landscape beds consistsof pipes located underground with shrub risers with spray nozzlesthreaded on them, referred to as fixed spray risers, or pop up sprayhead or sprinkler devices which pop up and then retract underground inbetween irrigation events. The spray nozzles affixed to either fixedrisers or pop up risers spray out water in a pattern, which sprays outover the entire flower bed/landscape area. Due to the irregular shapeand varying width of flower/landscape beds, it is often impossible totarget spray head water only on the intended flower/landscape bedwithout significant over spray into unintended areas. Also, thedistribution of water from these sprinkler devices is often interruptedin flower/landscape beds due to the height of the plantings in theseareas creating irregular wetting patterns. Sprinkler irrigation inflower/landscape beds suffers from inefficiencies found in sprinklerirrigation of turf areas, namely high evaporation losses from beingthrown in the air and evaporation from collecting on the leaf areamaterial. In addition to the inherent distribution inefficiencies ofbroadcasting water through the air, sprinkler irrigation also suffersfrom the basic inefficiency of attempting to irrigate the entireflower/landscape bed while the planting area may only cover as little as50 percent of the bed. In addition to irrigating the entire areaautomatically cutting the efficiency, the moisture not irrigating thebedding plants will irrigate weeds and weed seeds in the landscape bedsoil, increasing again the need for herbicide chemicals. In all,sprinkler irrigation for flower/landscape beds, while being the mostwidely used form of irrigation, falls short of efficiency and is laborintensive and complicated to install and design.

The third form of prior art irrigation system is known as dripirrigation. Drip irrigation for flower/landscape beds comes in twoinstallation methodologies, subsurface and surface drip irrigation.First for subsurface drip irrigation, a drip emitter line is buried sixto twelve inches below the flower/landscape bed with the lines beingtwelve to eighteen inches apart. The emitters emit water at a rate from0.5 to 2 gallons per hour and are subsurface drip emitter layout grid isto water the soil beneath the flower/landscape bed completely. The gridresults in subsurface watering, but is subject to several limitationsand inefficiencies. The physics of water movement through varioustextures of soil can act to limit the efficiency of subsurface dripirrigation. In a coarse soil, such as sand, the water moves outward andupward due to capillary action, but to a greater extent once the soil issaturated, the water moves downward due to gravity force. This basicform of movement happens in all soil types, to the greatest extent insand and to a lesser extent in a clay soil. As water drops below thedrip line grid, which is already six to eight inches deep, it passes outof the root zone of flower/landscape plants. In addition to droppingbelow the root zone of the plantings, the fact that the grid irrigatesthe entire bed area, where the plantings may only occupy 50 percent ofthe bed area, the efficiency of the water placement is reduced, Placingthe drip line below the bed surface creates several maintenanceconsiderations, such as roots growing into the many individual, low flowemitter devices, cutting of the multiple emitter lines from shovels andmaintenance tools, and plugging of the small emitter orifices with soiland sediment. The prevention of roots growing into the emitters can beaccomplished by impregnating the plastic, which the emitters are moldedout of with a chemical herbicide such as Treflan. To prevent damage fromtools and shovels, the lines must be buried as deep as possible,however, this just makes the problem of water loss below the root zonegreater. In addition to efficiency and maintenance concerns, there isalso the increased labor requirements of installing the subsurfacesystem.

In a modification of subsurface drip, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,711, issued toJonas Sipaila, entitled Subsurface Fluid Distribution Apparatus andMethod, teaches a drainage and irrigation system based upon anunpressurized half pipe contained within a chamber filled with asignificant depth of washed sand material. In this patent, it teachesexcavation down to a required depth, laying of a liner, placement of awater channel, non-pressurized pipe, and filling with a washed sandmaterial of significant depth (13 inches) to provide a growing root zonefor the planted plant material. While this patent method does provide acontrolled root zone, it is very expensive to provide the excavation andmaterial for the root zone growth. Also, the method suffers from beingthe most labor intensive of all types of flower/landscape bedinstillation, requiring complete excavation to a significant depth andtotal replacement of the root zone growth material. Another limitationof this type of system is that it must be installed perfectly flat andin a descending order if more than one unit is installed in a serialmanner. So that in addition to all of the additional labor requirements,there is extensive grading and leveling requirements. This systemattempts to improve efficiency but does so at great expense in cost oflabor and materials. It markedly increases the time required toestablish a flower/landscape bed.

The next form of drip irrigation for flower/landscape beds is surfacedrip irrigation. In this form of drip irrigation, the drip emitters arelocated on the surface of the flower/landscape bed, typically with anemitter for each plant. This form of irrigation does provide increasedefficiency due to watering at the plants only but is extremely sensitiveto disturbance on the surface by tools and maintenance activities. Thistype of drip irrigation is the most utilized form of drip irrigation.The small molded and extruded plastic components of this form ofirrigation are easily destroyed by normal gardening activities such asraking and digging, removing weeds, planting new flower/landscape beds,etc. Another danger is that because of the small diameter tubing andemitters that the point emission devices get moved away from theintended watering areas, increasing inefficiency in the irrigationsystem. While the surface drip irrigation system is not as laborintensive as the flood, sprinkler and subsurface drip irrigation systemsto install, it is still fairly design and labor intensive to calculatethe proper flow rate for each emitter/planting combination and theproper layout of the entire system.

In a recent irrigation system for the irrigation of turf grass inventedby the inventor of the current invention, U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,776,entitled Subsurface Mat Amendment System and Apparatus was developed toprovide a simpler irrigation system specifically for the irrigation ofturf grass. This system can be classified as a form of subsurfaceirrigation but because it is a product intended for turf, it is notefficient for the irrigation of flower/landscape plantings.

Aside from the labor requirement of installing whatever form ofirrigation system is selected for the flower/landscape bed, there is asignificant element of labor required in the preparation of the flowerbed itself. Typical steps required to establish a flower/landscape bedin a typical turf grass lawn include: laying out the shape of the area,removing the turf grass, weeds and stones to a depth of 12 inches,bringing whatever soil amendments might be required for the soil basematerial, incorporating the amendments or tiling the soil to give afriable, open moisture of soil, creating border for the flower/landscapebed to-prevent invasive turf grass and weeds from penetrating the bed,applying a weed killer to kill any weed or grass left in the bed, andthen finally smoothing out the final surface of the bed. Once all ofthese tasks are completed, then the form of irrigation system can beinstalled to provide moisture to the plants within the bed.

All in all, no none prior art irrigation system for flower/landscapebeds has been developed which is cost effective, easy to install,efficient and significantly reduces the labor requirement of installingirrigated flower/landscape beds, while also reducing the laborrequirement of the actual preparation of the flower/landscape beditself.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a general objective of the current invention to overcomethe above-described limitations and labor requirements associated withprior art irrigation systems for flower/landscape beds and also thelabor requirements for installing the flower/landscape bed itself.

In order to accomplish the objectives of the current invention, thesystem apparatus according to the invention includes in one preferredembodiment a panel made up of multiple materials including a plasticbase material, a flexible wicking material such as polyurethane foam, alength of tubing such as polyethylene tubing, one or more flowcontrolled emission device(s), an optional water holding material suchas a polymer crystal, and connector devices to interlock the panel withother panels if desired to form a multiple panel flower/irrigation bedif desired and an optional rigid mesh material. The base plasticmaterial that forms the bottom and sides of the panel can range from aflexible polyethylene sheet to a semi-flexible vacuum formedthermo-plastic shell to a rigid vacuum formed thermo-plastic shell or aninjection molded rigid plastic shell combined with a flexiblepolyethylene material to form the bottom tray. The base plastic materialcan very in thickness depending upon the toughness of the materials butshould be such that it is durable enough to withstand being placed uponsticks, rocks or other possible projections without penetrating thematerial. The base plastic material can be solid or with a slightporosity in all or certain areas to allow the movement of water and airthrough the rest of the panel. The flexible wicking material is an opencell reticulated, polyether polyurethane foam or in an alternateembodiment, bonded crumb rubber and polyurethane material. The length oftubing that is embedded within the panel is a typical polyethylene tubeof ⅛″ to 1-inch diameter as typically used in irrigation applications orin an alternative embodiment, a cross-linked polyethylene material. Theflow controlled emission device is a typical flow control disk with avarious flow rate from ½ to 60 gallons per hour depending upon thenumber emission devices or the desired precipitation rate of the panel.The flow control device can also be simply a hole or open end of afitting which flows water in a controlled manner into the panel. Thewater holding polymer gel is that typically available for holding waterin a soil medium. The non-sealed metallic sheath is a wound metalmaterial made from non-corrosive metal and is not sealed to providewater movement through the conduit. The push to connect fitting can be abarbed push on fitting or an insert compression type of fittingtypically available within the irrigation industry for use withpolyethylene pipes. The optional wire mesh fabric like commonlyavailable chicken wire or screen mesh can be added to the panel toprovide additional protection to the finished composite panel.

The invention apparatus in one preferred embodiment is assembled to acomplete product as follows:

1. The flow control(s) unit(s) is inserted into the appropriate lengthof polyethylene tubing.

2. The push to connect connector (either a compression type of fittingas is typically used with polyethylene tubing in the irrigation industryor a gripping configuration such as a threaded or grip device) isinserted full depth into one end of the polyethylene tubing.

3. The tubing/flow control(s)/push to connect fitting assembly isinserted into the optional flexible non-sealed metallic conduit.

4. The base plastic shell material has a first layer of the flexiblepolyether polyurethane foam inserted and secured into it.

5. The optional polymer water holding gel is secured on the top of thefirst polyether polyurethane foam material.

6. The tubing/flow control/push to connect fitting/optional flexiblenon-sealed metallic conduit is then placed on top of the first layer offoam/polymer gel crystals.

7. Another top layer of foam material is created with a geometricpattern of holes ranging from 1 inch to 12 inches to create holes intowhich the flower/landscape plants can be placed into the panel.

8. The top layer of foam with the planting holes is secured onto theplastic/foam/polymer gel/water emitting configuration to create thefinal pane configuration.

The panel is now a complete integral unit that can now be laid down as asingle unit or connected to a series of units to create the desiredflower/landscape bed.

The flower/landscape panel bed system is installed by simply placing thepanels in the desired area where a flower/landscape bed is desired. Thepanels can be placed on surfaces of turf grass, where the grass beneaththe panel will die and compost beneath the panel and not emerge throughthe panel, leaving just the flower/landscape panels with no sub growththrough. The panels can also be placed directly on uncultivated soil ofany type, as the flowers/landscape plants grow within the panelmaterial. It has even been demonstrated that a thriving flower bed canbe grown on solid asphalt in Phoenix, Ariz. on the western side of abuilding. The panels can be placed in an arrangement where one panelconnects directly into another panel or is separated and connected by alength of polyethylene tubing. Once the final panel is attached, an endplug or closure is connected to complete the series of panels or panel.Each individual panel should be fairly level to facilitate waterdistribution. The initial panel is then connected to a pressurized watersource and water fills the emission lines of all the panelssimultaneously. The water fills the lower reservoirs of each panel. Thelandscape flowers and plants are planted into the panels by simplyremoving the flowers/plants from the shipping pots/containers or traysthat they came in from the nursery or point of purchase and insertingthe root ball/soil combination directly into the hole. Once all theholes are filled as desired, mulch is then placed on the surface of thepanels and into the holes of any planting holes that were not filled, ifany. As a final step, a border of landscape blocks or stones or mulchcan be added around the panels. Once charged with water, the panelsprovide water air and a root support structure to the roots growing outof the soil/soil combination into the growth matrix, and also astructure for the plant support.

Theory Of Operation

The engineered, irrigation flower and landscape bed panel provides aninstant, irrigated flower/landscape bed ready for the planting offlowers. It eliminates the need to dig out beds, cultivate soil, importsoil amendments, etc. Once connected to a pressurized water source, eachconnected panel(s) fills with water through the first layer of wickingmaterial (typically polyether polyurethane foam). The landscape/flowersoil/root ball of the each plant rests on top of the first layer ofwicking material in the pre-cut holes in the secondary top layer offoam. The top layer of wicking material is covered with mulch to createa top layer of the panel(s) and hold moisture in the top layer ofwicking material and create a moist, humid 100% humidity zone with astructure that the plant roots can penetrate into. The plant roots growout of the soil/soil area in the cutout of the top wicking material intothe side areas. The roots are also able to grow into the bottom wickingpanel to pick up moisture if necessary for support of theflower/landscape plants. The open cell wicking material forms an optimumgrowth medium for the planted flowers and landscape beds as it containsample amounts of readily available water and trapped air in an optimumstructure for roots to grow into. With a partially porous to non-porousbottom and sides, there is no loss of the irrigation water to the lowersurface that the landscape panel is placed on. With the mulch surface onthe top of the panel evaporation through the upper surface of thelandscape panel is also minimized, creating a watering situation whereall the water emitted into the landscape panel is available to thelandscape plants. The dewatering of the panels is accomplished mainlythrough the transpiration of the planted material within the panels.Water movement throughout the panel vapor phase as the wicking materialbelow the mulch is at 100 percent humidity. The water is constantlyredistributing throughout the panel allowing for even water distributionnot available in a conventional flower bed soil situation. With thepanel installed over the base soil weeds and weed seeds that werepresent in the soil are not allowed to grow up through the panelmaterial, making for a flower or landscape bed with no weeds. Wheninstalled over any type of soil area or existing landscape, thelandscape panels provide a means to have a lush landscape/flower bedwith minimal input of labor and water.

The landscape/flower panels, once installed with the flower/landscapeplantings, provide a permanent irrigation planting bed system withseveral advantages over conventional landscape/flower beds withirrigation. Some of the advantages include:

1. Significantly less labor is required to complete the installation ofthe landscape/flower bed and irrigation system (no trenching, layingpipe, installing heads, adjusting heads, covering trenches, amendingsoil, tiling, removing weeds, applying chemicals, digging holes, etc).Each landscape panel is an independent, self-contained panel withirrigation.

2. There are no hydraulic calculations for the irrigation system anddesign steps.

3. There are no critical emission device placement requirements.

4. There is no need to prepare the base soil with tilling, amendments,etc.

5. There is no need for the landscape/flower bed to be grown over asuitable soil substrate.

6. There is a reduced need to utilize herbicides for the killing ofweeds that would grow up from the base soil as they are blocked by thelandscape panel.

7. Over spray and wind drift are eliminated as the water is containedonly in the irrigation panel and not sprayed into the atmosphere.

8. Water loss due to deep percolation is greatly reduced.

9. Evaporation of irrigation water is greatly reduced.

10. Runoff outside the flower/landscape bed area is eliminated as thelandscape panel contains the irrigation water within the root zone.

11. The modular, self-contained panels require no excavation as priorart systems do.

12. The non-conventional high flow rate of the discharge device withinthe landscape panel discourages plugging and detrimental root growtharound the emission device.

The above listing of benefits and features, considered with the hardwarelandscape panel descriptions from above will become more evident whenconsidered with the following drawings and descriptions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of one preferred embodiment of the engineeredlandscape/flower irrigation panel showing a cross sectional view and allthe components it is made up of.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the landscape/flower irrigation panelshowing a possible configuration for the pre-cut planting holes.

FIG. 3 is an alternate schematic top view of one embodiment showing theemission device and potential connection points.

FIG. 4 shows an installation of several engineered landscape/flowerpanels in a typical landscape situation.

FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of an engineered irrigationlandscape/flower panel with plant material planted and growing.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of an engineered irrigationlandscape/flower panel completely connected to a pressurized watersource.

FIG. 7 shows an equation of how to calculate the precipitation rates ofa panel for area versus emission flow rate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of one preferred embodiment of the engineeredlandscape/flower irrigation panel showing a cross sectional view and allthe components it is made up of. The landscape/flower irrigation panel10 is made up of a non-porous to partially porous bottom and side liner11 made of a suitable polymer material, the first solid piece of wickingmaterial 12, preferably made of an open cell polyether polyurethanefoam, a connection fitting 13 for connection to a pressurized watersource, one or more emission devices 14 connected to a distribution tube15 of suitable tube material such as polyethylene which traverses thepanel between the first piece of wicking material 12 and a secondarypiece of polyether polyurethane wicking material 16 which has holes 17of appropriate diameter drilled into it. The holes 17 typically range indiameter from 2 inches to 12 inches to accommodate various diameterbedding and landscape plants. The end of the traversing distributiontube 15 terminates with a connection fitting 18 that can be eitherplugged or connected to additional tubing and run to another panel. Alayer of water absorbing polymer gel 19 can be located between thewicking material layers 12 and 16 to provide additional water storage,however the wicking material can be located anywhere appropriate withinthe panel. All of the components are secured to form a complete panel10, which is ready to plant with flowers.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the landscape/flower irrigation panelshowing a possible configuration for the pre-cut planting holes. Thepanel 20 is made up of all of the elements explained in FIG. 1. Thepre-cut holes 21 can be in a variety of diameters 22 and arrangements asdeemed optimum for a particular planting bed region. The diameters 22can range typically from 2 inches to 12 inches or greater depending onthe particular planting material to be established in the bed. The outerperimeter of the landscape panel 23 can have any arbitrary shape such asrounded corners 24 to provide an artistic or functional flower/landscapebed. The overall shape could be round, arbitrary, square, or whateverwould be deemed suitable for the particular situation. The lower layerwicking material 25 and distributed water absorbing polymer gel 26 willbe visible and accessible through the pre-cut planting holes 21. Theattachment fitting 27 and continuation/termination fitting 28 can alsobe seen from the top view, with a portion of the distribution tubing 29.

FIG. 3 is an alternate schematic top view of several embodiments showingalternate possible shapes for various installations. The engineeredlandscape/flower beds can take on various geometric shapes as seen froma schematic top view such as pie shaped 30, as would be used in thecorner of an intended flower or landscape bed, circular 31 as would beused around a growing tree, or in an arbitrary shape 32 as would be usedin a flower bed garden area. The connections 33 and terminations 34, andall other elements are as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 above.

FIG. 4 shows an installation of several engineered landscape/flowerpanels in a typical landscape situation. The various shapes ofengineered landscape/flower panels 40 are installed around a schematichouse 41. The various panels 40 are connected serially 42 together whenin proximity to each other. The stand alone beds 43 are connected to awater source from an appropriately pressurized water connection 44. Theentire installation is pressurized from valves supplying the irrigationwater.

FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of an engineered irrigationlandscape/flower panel with plant material planted and growing. Theschematic picture shows a living, growing plant 50 that is planted intoa pre-cut hole 51 in the second layer of wicking material 52. The rootsof the plant 50 are growing into the second layer of wicking material 52and the bottom wicking layer 53. The emission device 54 emits water intothe wicking layers 52 and 53. The plant root and sol ball 55 is insertedinto then pre-cut hole 51 of the panel. Mulch 56 is placed on top of thepanel. Emitted water collects in the bottom layer of the wickingmaterial 53 and moves through the top wicking layer 52 through acombination of wicking action, mechanical movement and travel as water.vapor where it can recondense in the upper wicking material 52 asavailable water from the plant roots 57. The plant roots 57 can alsogrow into the bottom wicking layer 53 and extract as much moisture asnecessary. Because of the unique open cell structure of the wickingmaterial 52 and 53, preferably polyether polyurethane foam with opencells, air is trapped in the material and constantly available to theroots 57 of the plant. The panel has zones within it of varying moisturelevel, from nearly saturated to lightly moist. The plant roots 57 willpropagate in the appropriate zones to supply adequate air and moistureas needed. The roots 57 growing into the wicking matrix 52 and 53 alsoprovide stability to the plant. The landscape/flower bed irrigationpanel is located on a base material 58 of either soil or any solidmaterial. The panel is connected to a pressurized water source throughtube 59 and water is run periodically as needed to maintain moisturewithin the panel. The water holding polymer gels are optionallycontained in area 60. The wire mesh to prevent damage to the panel wouldbe contained in area 61.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of an engineered irrigationlandscape/flower panel completely connected to a pressurized watersource. The panel 62 is connected to a valve mechanism 63 which caneither be manual or controlled automatically through a clock controller.The water flows into the distribution tube 64 and out the emissiondevice 65 and into the panel wicking material 66 and 67. Because of thenonporous to partially porous bottom and sides 68 and 69, the water doesnot or very minutely flows into the base material 69 that the panel isinstalled over. The water moves into the soil and root ball 70 throughcapillary action of the soil in the pre-cut hole 71. The water movesinto the upper wicking material 67 through vapor transfer or mechanicalmovement.

FIG. 7 shows an equation of how to calculate the precipitation rates ofa panel for area vs. emission flow rate.

The above described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate theprinciples of the invention, but not to limit the scope of theinvention. Various other embodiments and modifications to theseembodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the scope of the invention as described.

1. A method of installing a landscape planting bed, the methodcomprising the steps of: positioning a panel of porous, permeablematerial over a base surface in an area which is to contain plants; andpositioning one or more landscape plants in relation to the panel suchthat the plant's roots can grow in the panel; and positioning a waterblocking boundary between said base surface and the lower surface of thepanel to prevent the movement of water past said boundary.
 2. The methodof claim 1 further comprising the step of creating one or more plantreceiving openings in the panel.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein saidplant receiving openings are of different sizes.
 4. The method of claim1 further comprising the step of: positioning a water supply conduit todirect irrigation water into the panel at a charging point.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein said charging point is located at a side ofsaid panel.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein said charging point is thetop surface of the panel.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein said panel iscomprised of at least two layers of porous, permeable material.
 8. Themethod of claim 7 wherein said one or more plant receiving holes aremade through only the top layer of porous, permeable material.
 9. Amethod of creating an ecosystem for landscape plants, the methodcomprising the steps of: positioning a substantially continuous panel ofporous, permeable material over a base surface in an area which is tocontain one or more plants; positioning said one or more landscapeplants in relation to the panel such that roots of said plants can growin the panel; providing a water inlet for said panel; directing waterinto said panel; blocking the movement of water at the bottom surface ofsaid panel;
 10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step ofsurrounding the roots of each of said one or more plants with a soilball.
 11. The method of claim 9 wherein said water inlet is positionedon the side of said panel.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein said waterinlet is the top surface of said panel.
 13. The method of claim 1wherein said step of positioning a water blocking boundary furthercomprises positioning said water blocking boundary around substantiallyall of the sides of said panel.